Law Weblog

Judge sacked for being rude to solicitors

Friday 24 April 2009 at 10:35 pm | In News | Post Comment District Judge Margaret Short has been removed by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice after a “history of complaints” including “inappropriate, petulant and rude” behaviour towards solicitors appearing in court.

She is the first judge to be removed since Judge Bruce Campbell was dismissed for smuggling whisky into England from Guernsey in 1983.

The Office for Judicial Complaints started a judicial investigation in 2006 after the judge had taken annual leave when told not to; refused to hand over papers to assist the investigation into her behaviour and made serious “untrue” allegations against support staff.

Judicial Complaints press release here